“[Gaston and Frazier] is why we won,” Fordham coach Tom Pecora said. “Our veterans stepped up. Our margin for error is so small because of our lack of experience and obviously these two guys bring us that experience. We need leadership from Branden and Chris and I think they have done a good job of it.”

While Gaston, who was playing in Rose Hill for the first time this season, dominated the first half, scoring 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting, Frazier took over in the game’s final minutes to seal the Rams’ win, going 6-for-6 from the charity stripe in the game’s final 1:19.

Frazier added ten assists to collect the first double-double of his career.

“I think Frazier did a great job,” Pecora said. “Ten assists, three turnovers, so the ball in his hands is a good thing. That’s going to help him a lot as he goes forward and tries to play on the next level.”

The junior guard has averaged just under 22 points per game over Fordham’s past three games. Frazier fueled the Rams’ comeback win over Princeton last week, led the team in scoring last Friday against UConn and Sunday once again proved that he’s not going to shy away from big moments.

“I want the ball in my hand,” Frazier said. “I want to go to the line, make the free throws. I want to be the guy who makes it.”

Fordham (3-9) needed every last free throw from Frazier because despite jumping on Siena early, going up by as many as 18 points in the first half and leading by 16 at the break, the Saints (2-10) were able to mount a furious comeback in the second half, cutting the Rams lead to just one after a Rakeem Brookins (18 points) trey made it 63-62 with 10:04 left to play.

“We once again showed that we’re immature, we thought the game was over because we were up 16 and we allowed them to fight their way back into the game,” Pecora said. “Hopefully it’s a lesson learned.”

With Siena threatening again with just over a minute to play, the 2,268 Rams fans erupted when freshman guard Mandell Thomas swatted a Brookins offering off the backboard and allowed Fordham to finally put away the game.

“Thomas had a Jordan-esque block for a 6-foot-1 guy to do that,” Pecora said. “He’s got that ability, he’s earning minutes and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him in the starting lineup shortly.”

While Gaston was silenced somewhat in the second half, scoring only five points, he did draw the heat off of his teammates.

“They doubled-down on me so I was kicking the ball out, I was trying to play an overall game,” Gaston said.

He even managed to earn a fist bump and praise from Pecora after the game.

“That’s a number of mature decisions by Chris,” Pecora said. “He has three assists and zero turnovers, that’s the first game since I’ve been here that he’s had zero turnovers, it’s beautiful.”